Painted All Day...

I made my coffee and had my usual breakfast, then I found my way downstairs to the studio. I had spent some time digging through old photo files last night, so I pretty much knew what it was I wanted to paint. The question was ,"what would  I FEEL like painting this morning?" Once I got settled in, got the computer files opened., arranged my canvasses, I was pretty much decided that the images that I had chosen last night were the right ones. After a minute or two of procrastinating and trying to find something else to do I just started painting. I squeezed a couple of colors onto the pallet, picked up a brush, and painted. Pictured here are a few of the chosen images...  

As I sit and look at the paintings laid out in my studio, I'm okay with the finished product. They are not what I usually paint. I do an occasional sea/landscape, but never wanted to be that cliched "Cape Cod" painter. In fact I used to make fun of those "little old ladies" who painted cottages and hydrangeas, and seem to fill up every painting class on the Cape, as well as every artist association along it's shores. I still don't want to paint cottages and hydrangeas. But... To "make a living as an artist" need to paint things that I could potentially sell. These are the kind of scenes that, presumably, someone could buy as a reminder of their vacation. When you look at the galleries scattered about the Cape. This is the type of painting that you see on their walls. I don't have an actual count of the galleries on the Cape, but there are a lot! Each of those galleries must (and this is an assumption on my part) sell multiple works every year. Perhaps multiple works every month, maybe per week. That is a lot of paintings. If I'm trying to make money, I suppose that I should focus on what actually sells, take it, and make it my own. Tailor  my style to the subject matter. Am I wrong about this?

There are artists out there that may say that I am selling out, that I'm compromising. Maybe to a certain extent, I am. The thing is that as a former gallery owner and curator, you really need to provide a product. (... and yes even though it sounds like I'm lowering "Art" by calling it "product", that's what it is. Art, when put in a gallery, or even when just painted with the intent of eventually selling it, is a PRODUCT.) Simple economics would say that the more potential buyers that your product appeals to the better your chance of selling it. So, and PLEASE correct me if I'm wrong, it would make more sense for me to spend my time painting a more marketable product. Right? But... Can't I, just sometimes, do this?

Enjoy the rest of your night!

P.S. Does anyone have any suggestions on photographing my work? These photos suck.